[CountryGirl18]

Before when I tryed to lose weight my calories stayed between 1200-1300 calories, when I was 200+. But that would end up to weeks where all I did was binge because I felt deprived. Lately my calories have been at 1400-1600. And I dont feel deprived. I dont even feel like Im trying to lose weight, since Im getting alot of food.

Im curious about where everyone started at and how much did you weigh.

[horsey]

I'm at about 1200-1300 calories a day but it seems like the key to going low in calories is volume, eating soups and foods that fill you up without a lot of calories. I've read that rotating calories is helpful to keep the body tricked, so on days when I do 1400-1600 I don't feel bad at all since my real goal is 1200. It seems to be that if you are working out hard you need 1400-1600 for energy, but if you want to lose without super workouts, low carbing it at 1200 is the fast way. That's my personal opinion, everyone is different.

[mandalinn82]

I have never gone below 1300 a day. I started around 1600-1700, went down around 200 lbs to 1500-1600, then to get to goal (the last 10 lbs...so starting at about 170) went 1300-1400.

[RealCdn]

I'm losing well enough on 1800-2000 (started at 358 actually lower, but upped it in January as I started exercising more). I didn't want to have to lower it too much later if I stalled.

[JayEll]

For my main period of weight loss, I averaged 1300-1400 per day eaten. My burn rate, with exercise, was between 1900-2000.

Jay

[baffled111]

Me? I originally went from 185-142 on 1200 a day, plus 1 hour of cardio 5-6 days a week. I lost quickly and efficiently and steadily. But, I didn't learn anything. Kept the weight off for 1 1/2 years and then regained to 155. Dropped from 155-138 on 1800, plus all the exercise. This time I learned something about how to manage calories in maintenance. From my experience, it's best to start as high as possible so that you can really learn what it feels like to eat like a normal, non-weight challenged person while losing weight so as to practice for maintenance.

(But I also completely agree with Horsey that restricting carbs and emphasizing veggies and volume is the smartest approach to calorie counting.)

[SouthLake]

I started at 196.5 on 1600 a day with relatively infrequent exercise. So far, I've lost 7.5 pounds my first month. Halfway through the month I added in about 2 hours exercise a week. I'm losing pretty steadily, I don't feel hungry, and, quite honestly, I don't even feel like I'm trying.

[wisher]

When I first started I ate anywhere form 1800-2000 per day and I weighed 250 lbs. I lost 2-3 lbs. a week with that. Right now I'm eating around 1500 and I weigh 187, I'm losing pounds quite a lot slower but I'm building muscle like crazy and my body fat % is decreasing so I'm happy!

[Heather]

I started calorie counting when I was a little over 280 and I lost on 2000 calories/day initially. As I lost, I brought my calories down a bit and ended up at around 1800/day. I ended just under 180...

[Shy Moment]

I have pretty much been between the calories I am at right now. 1200 to 1400 since I started loseing weight.

[BlueToBlue]

I started at 150 lbs and 1200 calories a day. My gym has an online tool that suggests how many calories you should eat and that's what it came up with for me. I think it is just weight-based; I now know there are more sophisticated formulas out there (e.g., ones that take into account your level of exercise, etc.)

I did pretty well on 1200 calories a day, but friends expressed shock and horror at it, so I increased it to 1300 a day after about four months. I continued to lose pretty steadily at 1300 a day for a while then stalled out after significantly increasing my level of exercise. After several weeks of frustration and hunger, someone on 3FC suggested increasing my calories, so I bumped them up to 1400 a day. That worked; I wasn't hungry anymore and I started losing again. Got pretty close to goal at that level, then had some off plan periods and gain a few lbs back. Couldn't manage to lose them, so I dropped my exercise a bit (after reading an article that suggested there is such a thing as too much cardio) and dropped my calories back to 1300. That worked and I again got pretty close to goal (well, actually got to goal but then moved the goal). Then had a few more off plan periods and gained a few lbs back. It's been a real struggle to lose this time, so I'm down to 1200 a day again. But the lbs do seem to be coming of very very very slowly.

[jellydisney]

I aim for 1500-1600 calories a day, but the reality of it is that I'm often as high as 1800. Anything less than 1500 and I'm starving. I do quite a bit a of exercise, and right now it seems that I've been holding steady at about 132 lbs.

[Meg]

I started at 1600 and dropped by 100 if I stalled. I spent the last six months of my weight loss around 1200 calories. I think I had to go lower than some because of my age (I was 46/47), hormones (menopausal), and metabolism (I'm hypothyroid).

[MrsEnigma]

I just started calorie counting in earnest in January. I didn't want to start out too low because that's what I'd done before and failed. Right now, I'm at 272 lbs and have set my calories at 1800/day. I don't freak though if I go over by say 100. So far, I've lost 9 lbs - maybe more since I haven't weighed in 4 days.

Mrs E

[Glory87]

After years of dieting and feeling hungry, miserable, bingey (and usually giving up in some spectacular binge-induced food blowout), I very carefully stayed above 1400 this last time. I started counting at 1400-1600 and lost weight very steadily from July to March.

Then, I plateaued for months. I ate less, exercised more, scale didn't budge. Around June, I figured my body was done losing weight and slowly shifted to maintenance (raising calories very slowly over time to 1800-2000) a day. The next month I lost 2 lbs. In October, I was down another 3 lbs to 135. I finally ended up at 127 - it took me 9 months to lose the last 13 lbs at 1800 calories a day!